In Fall 2020, the Office of Mission and Ministry began to roll out a multi-level faculty formation and mission integration plan, designed in collaboration with faculty colleagues from across the university. This initiative invites faculty to consider how their scholarly and creative work as teacher-scholars might integrate principles that ground Gonzaga’s mission and might inform the university’s understanding of its mission and the work it demands. More information about each tier of faculty formation can be found below. To learn more about any of our faculty formation opportunities, contact Beth Barsotti, Ph.D. (cand.), at barsotti@gonzaga.edu.
Gonzaga’s Ignatian Mission Formation Program (IMFP) invites Gonzaga faculty-members to encounter the foundation of Jesuit Higher Education, Ignatian Spirituality, and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. The year-long program meets once per month, encouraging faculty to bring their own experience, expertise, grounding traditions, and deepest desires as educators into dialogue with the traditions that ground our mission. The IMFP does not require preparatory reading and is centered on conversation with colleagues in response to presentations offered by colleagues and guest speakers on topics that are foundational to Gonzaga’s mission.
IMFP explores topics such as:
- Gonzaga’s History and Context
- The Life of St. Ignatius Loyola and an Ignatian Way of Proceeding
- Encountering the Sacred in All Things: Ignatian Spirituality and a Sacramental Imagination
- Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm
- The Catholic Intellectual Tradition and the Dialogue between Faith and Reason
- Cura Personalis and Education of the Whole Person
- The Service of Faith and Promotion of Justice in Jesuit Contexts
Meeting dates for the 2023-2024 Academic Year (Fridays from 3:10-4:30pm unless otherwise noted):
- September 22 (3:10-6pm)
- October 13
- November 17
- December 8
- January 26
- February 23
- March 22
- April 19
- May 3 (4-6pm)
Gonzaga’s Arrupe Faculty Seminar builds on the Ignatian Mission Formation Program. It is open to those who have competed the IMFP or who have demonstrated significant experience in with faculty formation in Jesuit contexts.
The Arrupe seminar is a year-long program meeting approximately once every three weeks. It seeks to invite faculty into a deeper engagement and dialogue with the mission and traditions that ground it by critically reading and discussing both texts that are considered seminal to Jesuit and Catholic educational traditions and texts that critically and constructively engage them.
Such texts include documents from the General Congregations of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and the Jesuit curia, major addresses on Jesuit higher education by General Superiors of the Society of Jesus, and work by theologians including M. Shawn Copeland, Kristin E. Heyer, Ignacio Ellacuría, and Monika Hellwig.
The first cohort of the Arrupe Faculty Seminar was offered in the 2021-2022 academic year.
Meeting Dates for 2023-2024 (all meetings on Fridays from 12-1pm, unless otherwise noted):
- September 8
- September 29
- October 27
- January 19
- February 9
- March 1
- April 5
- May 3 (4-6pm)
The capstone year of faculty formation invites faculty to deepen their engagement with the mission through the creation and facilitation of a mission-themed event (lecture, exhibit, workshop, training, etc.; one-time or series) for their colleagues. Manresa Scholars work in collaboration with the Faculty Fellow for Faculty Formation and the Senior Specialists for Faculty and Staff Formation to identify a mission-themed topic and resources. This enables faculty to deepen their understanding of the mission while meaningfully engaging their faculty colleagues in integrating the mission across campus. Faculty participants are provided with a small stipend upon the realization of their project.
Meeting dates for 2023-2024 academic year (Wednesdays, 3:10-4:30pm):
- September 13
- September 27
- October 11
- October 25
- Friday, May 3 (4-6pm)